Andrew Cuomo to testify in public about nursing home deaths during pandemic

WASHINGTON — Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo will testify in public next Tuesday before a House subcommittee about the deaths of thousands of nursing home residents during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Cuomo will be making his second appearance before the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic after he responded to a subpoena and spent seven hours answering questions in a closed session in June.

“Andrew Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the committee chairman, in a statement Tuesday.

“On September 10, Americans will have the opportunity to hear directly from the former governor about New York’s potentially fatal nursing home policies,” he said.

“During closed-door testimony, Mr. Cuomo was shockingly callous when pressed to explain discrepancies in nursing home death counts, repeatedly deflected responsibility for the nursing home directive, and most egregiously, showed little remorse for the thousands of lives lost,” Wenstrup said.

The subcommittee has not released a transcript of Cuomo’s testimony from that session.

In response, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a statement: “This committee has continued to engage in false political attacks blaming New York for nursing home deaths despite the fact that New York was following guidance from Trump’s CDC and CMS.”

Azzopardi was referring to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “More than a dozen other states — Democratic and Republican — followed the same guidance,” he said.

Cuomo’s administration issued an order in March 2020 that barred nursing homes and assisted living facilities from turning away COVID-19 positive patients because officials feared overcrowding at hospitals as the virus spread.

About 15,000 nursing home residents died from the virus, and the Cuomo administration later acknowledged it had withheld information about the spread of COVID-19 and the number of resulting fatalities.

An independent investigation ordered by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022 and released in June found Cuomo’s “top down” handling of public health policy, rather than coordinating with state and local agencies, created confusion during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Olson Group consulting firm found Cuomo’s COVID-19 policies for nursing homes were rushed and uncoordinated, but it also said they were based on the best understanding of the science at the time — and the fatality rates were consistent with those of the rest of the country.

Cuomo resigned from office in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.